The present invention relates to a system and method for filing a package of the type described in the above-referenced parent application in the flight compartment of a space ship or the like under micro-gravity conditions.
It is known that under zero or micro-gravity conditions of outer space, that beverages cannot be poured from a vessel directly into a consumer's mouth. They must be forced out of the vessels or packages, under pressure, directly into the mouth of the consumer or astronaut. For still beverages and water, the astronaut can suck the liquid from a collapsible container through a straw.
Furthermore, the container utilized for dispensing a food or beverage must be of a collapsible volume type in order to preclude the creation of an air space or pocket within the container, the location of which cannot be controlled due to the substantially zero gravity conditions.
The package described in the aforementioned parent application was developed for dispensing a carbonated beverage pre-mix in outer space directly into an astronaut's mouth.
The pre-mix package described in that parent application can be filled on earth before it is launched into outer space. However, it would be desirable to provide a system to refill empty packages with pre-mix from a master supply tank in outer space operable by the crew of astronauts.